Friday, June 25, 2010

I'm heading off to a holiday in the Land of Pie and Sloth, aka Chatham-Kent, in Ontario, ancestral Canadian home of my clan. A couple of points to note about the area, besides the good farm produce, Lake Erie and home-made pies:

After recording the most votes via internet poll, Chatham-Kent will be occupying the Boardwalk square on the new Canadian version of Monopoly, beating out places like Toronto, Montreal and Banff. To which I say, whooo hooo!

It may be called Chatham-Kent, but to me, it looks more like Lincolnshire.

The man in charge of parcelling out the land, Colonel Thomas Talbot, had been an adjutent to Wellington, and was quite the character. He named an awful lot of roads, etc, after himself.

It has the most wind turbines in Ontario.

My mom's dad was known for having the best farm in the county and my dad's dad was the best commercial fisherman on Lake Erie.

I may have some internet access, but it's going to be dial-up, so I may blog or I may not, if it's too frustrating. Because really, I'm going there to eat pie, read, relax and maybe stain some furniture, if I can muster up the resolve after gorging on pie.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Whew, Nellie, we had an earthquake this afternoon. 5.5, apparently. There I was, eating my lunch, watching Law & Order, and my bookshelf starting to make odd noises. Also, move. I didn't hear any large trucks passing, so it finally occurred to me that we've had an earthquake. One poor cat was meowing away, the other is in hiding somewhere.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

So, now that I've finished a book, do I feel a sense of triumph? A thrill? A horrible sense of despair?

In my case, it's relief that it's finished, and a sense of...foreboding...is about the best way to put it - the fear that I've missed some huge plot hole that makes the Grand Canyon look like a crack in the plaster. I'm also always having to play catch-up with all the things that I let slide during the final rush to the finish, like laundry and gardening. This year, I had great plans and...

Nope. Didn't happen. However, my iris did look lovely.

The other thing I am is exhausted. I don't sleep that well when I have a lot going on, and this spring, I had a LOT going on.

So I'm going away for a few days, to sleep and eat strawberries and walk and read. If there's one good thing about being an empty nester, it would be this - the ability to just take off for a few days with no big preparations, like lining up a baby sitter and packing for the kids.